Haunted Souls

Chapter 10

Bianca laid on her bed with a huff of distaste and depression. She missed her old home, somehow missed sharing a room with her siblings. Missed Wi-Fi and school. Missed just being around people.

There was a town not too far away. Will always went there for work and brought groceries home, but that was all she heard of it. She never went, never met anyone new. It might as well have been fake.

She missed socialization. She never had friends, but she always ended up having someone to talk to that was around her age. Now? She had her parents and younger siblings. None of them were good to hold a conversation with.

Maria laid on Bianca's chest, asleep with her thumb in her mouth. Her tears had dried away, but the bandage still took up most of her face, hiding her cuts. Three cuts... Bianca had seen TV. She had read books. She knew what three scratches meant.

And it wasn't good.

The shadows in the room seemed to darken, sending Bianca's arms around Maria in hopes to protect her. If she could, that is. How can you protect someone from something that shouldn't even exist?

"Go away," Bianca commanded, not even sure to who she was talking. But she felt a presence, could sense that something was in that room, something evil. Something that never should have been there to begin with. "Leave us alone."

The presence didn't disappear but didn't come any closer. As Bianca focused on trying to keep Maria asleep, she realized that she felt strangely comforted by it. It was there for her when no one else was

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"So...what's your plan?" Nico asked, his eyes on Ethan through the large window. "To keep us safe."

Will looked over from a pile of papers. "First stop is a place with internet. There's a library in town we can take the kids to."

"Okay..." Nico leaned his head back. "That'd be good. They'll be able to get out of the house."

"Will you get them ready for me?" Will asked. "I've got work stuff to do."

Nico rolled his eyes but got up. "Fine. But you better not focus on work when we get there. This is more important."

"I know, I know," Will assured him. "I have a plan."

"You said that when you ended up getting your tongue stuck to that swingset," Nico remembered as he walked out of the room. "Those were great times."

"You had gotten me high!" Will called back. "That's not fair!"

Nico shook his head as he walked outside. Leave it to Will to shout something like that. "Ethan, come get ready. We're going to go to town."

Ethan looked up from the grass he had been ripping from the ground. "But I'm playing."

"Playing what, exactly?" Nico asked, squatting next to him. "You're making a mess."

"Okay, okay." Ethan's eyes lit up. "I had a dream about it last night. It looked so fun! You tear up all the grass! Then there's all brown-"

"Yeah, you're left with only dirt." Nico nodded. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Cause. You draw." Ethan pointed to the small spot of dirt. "I wanted it bigger. But watch." He used his finger to outline a circle in the dirt, then drawing a star inside it. "It's called a...a...pen something."

Nico's smile dropped. "Why in hell-"

"What's it called?" Ethan looked up from the dirt pentagram as if he had just drawn something light and innocent. "I can't say it. I tried really hard to, though."

Nico swept his foot over the dirt, erasing the pentagram from sight. "Where did you see that, Ethan? Who told you to draw that?"

"I told you..." Ethan's eyes watered at the destruction of his drawing. "Why did you do that?!"

"Because it's bad." Nico grabbed Ethan and stood up. "You said a dream? Are you sure?"

Ethan nodded, his lips starting to tremble. "Why is it bad?"

"Because." Nico walked into the house with his son clenched to him. "Don't draw that again. Please. For me."

"But why?!" Ethan demanded. "You ruined it!"

"Ethan." Nico stopped walking before putting his forehead against Ethan's. "Listen to me for a second, okay? Listen to me."

Ethan stopped fussing for a minute, long enough for Nico to talk again. "That thing is called a pentagram. It's really bad. It brings ghosts here."

Ethan's eyes widened, his tears evaporating. "Ghosts?"

Nico nodded. "You don't want them to eat you, right? So don't draw that symbol."

"But..." the tears came again, bursting from broken eyes. "He said he gonna hurt me if I don't."

"Who?"

"The man in my dreams."